Hot and sultry...

 

This morning we had the lightest rain possible here in this Monsoon season.  It was just beautiful!  I liken it to what I remember as the "piki rain" of Hawaii.  Now, I can't find anything with that terminology, so I may have made it up, but that was back in 1967 so it could be anything.  It is hot and sultry -- that's the only description I could come up with as I sat outside on the patio watching, smelling, and feeling the rain.  In fact, in one of our hula dances, Ka Beauty A'o Manoa,  one of our
verses is: "A beauty is the Tuahine rain of Manoa". It is the name of the famous misty rain of Manoa Valley on Oaha.  To dance this is just as lovely as the Tuahine rain itself.  I love it!  However, later this afternoon it revved up to full on thunder and lightening leading to flash floods.  Yes, the washes were like rivers, and many warnings not to drive in the dips of the roads if you can't see the bottom.  Cars can get swept away quickly.  Plus, if that happens you are the topic of the news as part of the Stupid Motorist Law.  Our front driveway/parking area flooded...there is no drainage, so water just sits there.  I was praying it would not keep rising in our front door!!  Fortunately it stopped, but it took

hours for it to go down.  I was getting to make up sandbags for the doorway.

    

Our Catalina Mountain view in our backyard revealed a remarkable setting with the low clouds sifting across the foothills. By this time it was 71 degrees at 3:30pm and our humidity was 84%.  ----And you are staying away from visiting due to what??? 

I was away almost 3 weeks to the Bay Area, and on the 2nd morning home, just after Ron drove off to be the caretaker of Justice in the Juvenile Court, I wondered what I would see out "my window".  Ha, like there really would be something out there for my entertainment just because I am home!  Well...yes, there was a javelina under my window munching on the maroon fruit of the prickly pear.  He was underneath it so much I could not get a photo.  And knowing where there is 1 of these long-haired peccaries there is a herd.  Sure enough, right across the driveway was the rest of the gang, grazing on our "pasture",  which is a heavily weeded area next to my Labyrinth.  Everything is very green and healthy due to the Monsoon rains.  They too were hidden by the mesquite trees prohibiting a photo op.  All I could do at that point was to chase them away with my "cowboy Heeaaahh!"  and armed with my walking stick in case they turn in my direction.  If they eat cactus, then they could probably bite my stick in 2 pieces.  I did get one pic before they meandered off.

A bit later on there were the usual big quail out there, also under the prickly pear.  All of a sudden there came a roadrunner toward them.  I have never seen a roadrunner with this colorful bright yellowish-gold feathered top of his head;  striking.  Since males are usually the fancier of species, that's why I said "he".  Their real name is "Greater Roadrunner", and they can run up to 18 miles/hour.  The next thing I saw was a big ruckus with 2 large quails feathers and wings spread out chasing that roadrunner across the patio and away!  Then I saw another roadrunner circling back toward the first one, and this pair...yes I am certain they were an item, beep-beeped along the driveway away from our area.  I suspected they wanted a portion of the dark red fruit called tunas that had fallen from that prickly pear cactus. The next day I saw a quail family run across the driveway with 2 teeny tiny quailettes, only about 2 inches high.  I think the that was the stimulus to that chase scene. I could not see them at the time, but I suspect that roadrunner saw them! They were too small to show up in my photo.  The next day I saw one of them running in the road around the corner two times during the day, and not again since then. 

There are 2 more things I have to show you, mostly of interest to those of you not from the desert.  The first is this plant outside "My Window".  It must be 10 ft. tall, with flowers at the top of a long bamboo-looking stem and a large spiny bush at the base.  My friend Jon Skaug tells me it is a variety of a plant called a Toothless Spoon.  Have you ever heard of such a thing? It sure has a lot of spiny teeth along its leaves for being called "toothless"!  To the right is a picture taken facing "My Window", reflecting my image due to the very tinted windows. 
The other amazing thing that happened while I was writing this blog is that I looked out and saw a desert tortoise lumbering toward our front door to visit me.  I have been looking out for one lately since I had not seen one this year.  They only come out during the Monsoon time.  It let me come right up to it.  You

are not supposed to pick them up because when they get frightened they urinate, and then get dehydrated. Not good in the desert! 

I do have more to show you, but it will have to wait until the next blog. 

Signing off,

Peju of the Desert